About the author (1997)

Author Antonio Skármeta was born in Antofagasta, Chile on November 7, 1940. He studied literature and philosophy in Chile and at Columbia University. He taught literature at the University of Chile from 1967 to 1973. He left his country in 1973 because he was profoundly affected by his country's political travail. After the collapse of Pinochet's military dictatorship, Skármeta returned to Chile and hosted a television program on literature and the arts. He served as the Chilean ambassador in Germany from 2000 to 2003. He has written several novels including Ardiente Paciencia, which inspired the 1994 Academy Award-winning movie Il Postino (The Postman); The Insurrection, about the Nicaraguan Revolution just before Somoza's fall; and Chileno!, a young adult book drawing on Skármeta 's own experience of exile.